Maybe boredom, too? Too much convenience → too little struggle → not enough meaning? When you have lots of free time and resources you have to create your own struggles, which is a skill many of us are not particularly adept at.

Struggle seems central to meaning.

EDIT: I thought this was a response

I’m no psychologist (not that it matters, they are guessing like the rest of us) but it certainly appears that way. Where once the struggle was subsistence, society has all but eliminated that struggle in the western world so the energy and stress that once came with that struggle is now being allocated elsewhere. I would also argue, as an atheist, that a lack of spirituality and family is reeking havoc on our society. Individualism is a curse, not a blessing. Living for one’s self has rooted “meaning” in selfishness. Today, when one wishes to be benevolent they don’t extend themselves any further than the voting booth or social signaling.

We have parents so selfish they can’t keep a commitment to their children as they search for “their one true love”. We have children, then pawn them off to the lowest bidder to be raised as we toil at our jobs. We slowly relinquish the responsibility of our lives to “institutions” like public schools, then call the ability to do so a human right.

When I suggest the problem is individualism, I am not suggesting the alternative is progressive collectivism, that is far more dangerous for the reason stated above. The problem with individualism is the sense of entitlement it provides the individual. Commitments no longer matter because “I” am not happy. Our children are secondary to self. The responsibility and hardship that comes with these commitments can be delegated to the State, after all, the State is “society”… right?